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Arikara Native-Made Glass Pendants: Their Probable Function

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

James H. Howard
James H. Howard*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Oklahoma State University
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Abstract

Archaeological finds from the Leavenworth and Sully sites in South Dakota have served to revive interest in the use of native-made glass beads by the Arikara and neighboring tribes of the Upper Missouri region. Although the distribution of these objects and the techniques involved in their manufacture are known, little has been said concerning their function. Ethnographic data suggests that one type of native-made bead, the sub-triangular pendant, was a forelock ornament employed in a ceremony known as the Blue Bead rite. Associations of native-made pendants with skulls from the Leavenworth site would tend to support this hypothesis.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , January 1972 , pp. 93 - 97
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1972

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